Contemporary aircraft cockpit includes multiple cockpit display units, which display to the pilot and co-pilot, a wide range of aircraft, flight, navigation, and other information pertaining to the operation and control of the aircraft. Typically, most of the cockpits include at least two display units, one each for the pilot and the co-pilot to view information that is relevant in context of the flight and aircraft. Such information can be various flight parameters such as horizontal altitude, vertical altitude, heading direction etc; or various aircraft parameters such as fuel status, engine status etc; or other static or dynamic information such as route map, flight plan etc.
Both pilot and co-pilot can separately view selected/desired information or parameters on their respective display units and thus can select the display layout as per their discretion to view the selected information. At many instances, the information viewed by the pilot and co-pilot is different. In other words, more often, the display format of the pilot's display unit and co-pilot's display unit is different from each other. For example, at any specific instance, the pilot is viewing the flight parameters on one portion of the display and a route map on another portion of the display; and in contrary, the co-pilot is viewing the aircraft parameters on the whole display unit. At such an instance, if the pilot wishes to share with the co-pilot, some insight pertaining to a specific information (say a route map), that is not currently being viewed on the co-pilot's display unit, the pilot has to verbally communicate with the co-pilot asking the co-pilot to look at the information on the display unit of the pilot. Such a verbal communication is time consuming and also requires diversion of the attention of the pilot and co-pilot from flying the aircraft.
Such a limitation/problem exists due to lack of a provision by which the pilot and co-pilot can share the particular information on the display units of each other. The sole interaction that exists between the display units is when one of the display units fails and other display units on recognizing the failure switch to reversion mode that signals the active display unit to display all flight critical parameter in one particular format. In other words, in normal circumstances when all the display units are active, there is no provision by which the pilot and co-pilot can interact through their respective display units.
Accordingly, in order to overcome the aforementioned limitations, there is a need of a method and a system, wherein the cockpit display units interact and share each other's display format. Also, there is a need of a system, wherein the cockpit display unit modifies its display format when receiving the instructions from the other cockpit display unit.